Monday, March 16, 2009

Virender Sehwag's blazing form in New Zealand has helped him jump nine places to sixth position in the latest Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, which is still headed by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The other big mover was Sachin Tendulkar who vaulted eight places to the 13th spot.Sehwag, who scored 299 runs against the Black Caps, has made it to the top 10 for the first time in six years. The Delhi batsman had dropped as low as 30th place last year. But his swashbuckling knocks that included a whirlwind 125 not out from just 74 balls in the fourth ODI at Hamilton has elevated him to the number six rank.Tendulkar has also made a movement in the right direction with his series scores of 20, 61 and 163 not out. Tendulkar held the top spot in the listing as recently as March 2008.However, Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir dropped down one and four places respectively. Yuvraj now sits in fourth place while Gambhir shares 16th spot with South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs.In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has fallen off top spot and now sits in fifth place. Vettori managed just two wickets in the series which was dominated by India batsmen.Vettori’s drop has benefitted Sri Lanka fast bowler Nuwan Kulasekara who, for the first time in his career, has surged to the top of bowlers’ rankings. Australia fast bowler Nathan Bracken is in second place while Kyle Mills of New Zealand is third.In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for all-rounders, India’s Yuvraj Singh has entered the top five for the first time in his career. He has leapfrogged West Indies captain Chris Gayle and Jacob Oram of New Zealand to share third place with Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik. Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan leads the field with Andrew Flintoff in second place.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship, India has gained two ratings points for its 3-1 series win. It has lifted it to 122 rating points and puts it just two ratings points behind second-placed Australia and three behind leader South Africa.In contrast, New Zealand has conceded two ratings points for the series loss and is now only one rating point ahead of Pakistan which goes head-to-head with Australia in Dubai and Abu Dhabi next month.